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A Lap of Monaco with Tiago Monteiro(24. 5. 2006 )
 Monaco is the kind of race where drivers can make a bit of a difference. It won’t be a miracle, but it could be a bit better for us than other tracks. It’s the kind of race where we might actually stand a good chance of mixing it up with the teams ahead.
I did the F3000 race in 2002, but I crashed on lap 8 or something, which wasn’t very good. Last year, I qualified and finished the race, which was about the best I could do with the car that I had. This year, I’m expecting a better result. But it won’t be easy, as you’ll see for yourself as I take you on a lap of the most famous street circuit in the world.
First of all, I should point out that it’s important to build up your speed gradually on this course, because you lose too much time if you crash on Thursday and then find yourself behind everyone else for the rest of the weekend. So taking it easy at first and finding the right groove is definitely the way to go.
Braking for the first corner at Ste. Devote is bumpier than usual, and it’s quicker than it looks. After a few laps, you’re already going really quickly into there, in third gear. Then you go up the hill. It’s flat all the way, but it’s not straight, so you actually have to drive it. It’s pretty tricky, actually.
The lefthander into the Casino is a high-speed corner. It’s very important to carry that speed while also holding the inside line, because the outside is usually very dirty. It’s a really tough corner. You brake a bit, you come down to fourth or fifth, and then get back on the gas right away. You’re blind, and you don’t see the exit of the corner. If you let the car go too wide, then you’re a little bit misplaced for the right-hand turn coming up.
Casino itself is tricky. You’ve got a big bump, with a kerb on the inside that you usually take a little bit. You want to get wide, but you have this big bump in the track which some cars seem to go over better than others. You can’t use the whole track in places like that if your car’s suspension isn’t set up for it.
Again, it’s third gear, so it’s quite quick. You need amazing rhythm as you keep going up the hill, through the lefthander, and then through Casino. There’s just a little bit of straight going downhill to Mirabeau, and the braking there is very sensitive. It’s a really fun second-gear corner, where you need to be as close to the kerb as you can. But you can easily lock up and skid down the escape road – it happened to me in qualifying last year!
The hairpin is the slowest corner on the track. It’s very boring in a way, but very technical. If you get the angle wrong, your car won’t turn and you end up wasting a lot of time. You really need to understand when to turn, and commit fully. It’s the only corner on the track where you’re on full steering lock.
Traction is an issue there, but you need to maintain it to set up for the next two right-handers. You take a lot of kerb at the first one and when you come down it’s a bit brutal. That area is more slippery than any other place on the track - there’s almost no grip at all. But it’s very important to get it right, because the second one heads into the tunnel, which is a long straight. Good traction and the right track position will help give you the quick exit that you need for this section.
Last year, with the V10, the tunnel was very tricky for us. It’s flat for some cars, and it was flat for us in qualifying, but not with old tyres. You don’t see very well when you have a dark visor, and the speed and all the vibration don’t help. The walls also blind you, which can be a bit unsettling.
When you come out, the light is a big shock. Then it’s hard, hard braking for the chicane – I would say it’s one of the toughest braking areas. The chicane is very slow and boring, with very hard kerbs. Traction on the exit is very important. You go up to the lefthander at Tabac, which is very quick, fourth gear, with lots of understeer. It’s completely blind and a very difficult corner, and also very slippery. If you go off there it’s going to be quite messy, because you’re flying along at fairly high speed!
The first part of the Swimming Pool section is amazing: it’s very high-speed now, very bumpy, with a quick change of direction. You’ve got to keep the rhythm. And then, right away, you’ve got heavy braking for the next part, which is like a chicane. It’s a lot slower, with hard kerbs again. So it’s two different styles, very quick and then a lot slower.
After that you get to Rascasse, where you’re braking and turning at the same time. You can easily lose the rear there under braking, so it’s a very tricky braking point, followed by a long, slow first part, where traction again is very important.
Then you get to the last corner where you need a lot of rhythm, and you need to trust where you’re going to go. You touch the kerb inside and the kerb outside, and then you’re on to a long straight, so obviously you want to nail the best exit possible. But it’s very easy to make mistakes there, as well, so you’ve got to be under control.
Putting together one perfect lap of Monaco is difficult. Putting together 78… Well, that’s an achievement.
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